the experienced senior led princeton tigers are 2-3 with 2 competitive road losses to byu 82-73 & vcu 81-70, vegas got them as the favorite in this match up at the pearl harbor class
the tigers are led by 6'5" 200 lbs steven cook (13 ppg with 59.5% on field goals), 6'1" 185 lbs devin canady (11.2 ppg & a lethal 48.1% on 3 pointers, the bears gotta know where the shooter is on the court at all times), 6'4" 205 lbs henry caruso (10.6 ppg & 5.4 rpg) & 6'4" 210 lbs spencer weisz (9.8 ppg)
defensively the bears gotta communicate with each other on the floor re: screens & switches, failure to do so will be fatal...cal is 9th in the nation in field goal d holding opponents to 35.8%, this is this team's identity, guys gotta play with focused/disciplined energy & aggression...this game is a good match up for the senior experience of roger, sammy & stephen to shine thru this afternoon
there's no reason that the bears can't dominate on the boards again vs the undersized tigers, cal is 7th in the nation in rebounding margin at 11.3%
offensively the bears gotta feed via entry lob passes both young ivee & the king, they got serious mismatch advantages, both guys gotta demand the ball & impose their will if they want their team to win...waiting for the game to come to them isn't gonna work, the bigs gotta come out ready to compete from the opening tip
but the #1 key to a cal victory today is young ivee not getting in foul trouble, ivan needs to be smart & play the fundamentally sound d that he's been taught by the staff & lou richie back in the day, not reaching with his hands & not leaving his feet when attacked just staying squared up with hands outstretched with a solid base to take the charges
both of these teams got true student athletes that are mentally limitless with academic ambition but only one team is gonna win today's battle at hickman air force base, who wants this more?
let's do this
compete#